The present invention relates to fishing lures and, more particularly, to fishing lure rigging systems designed so that the lure body is separable from the lure hook sets should hook sets become snagged.
The typical fishing lure comprises a lure body, which may be of the floating or sinking variety, and at least one hook set attached to the body. Fishing line typically is attached to an eyelet mounted on a forward portion of the body. Such fishing lures become snagged easily on submerged objects such as weeds or logs when reeled in, and can become snagged on trees or bridge girders above the water when cast.
When such lures are snagged, one common remedy for the fisherman is to exert tension on the line in an effort to free the lure from the object to which it is snagged. Unfortunately, a frequent result of such efforts is that the line breaks in front of the lure, leaving the snagged lure attached to the snagged object and irretrievably lost.
Many lures have been designed to minimize the loss occurring from such snags. For example, the Francklyn U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,890 discloses a fishing lure in which the body includes a channel through which the fishing line is threaded, so that the body can slide along the line. Rather than being tied to the lure body, the end of the fishing line extends through the body and is tied directly to one or two hook sets which trail behind and beneath the body. The body includes a split ring for clamping the line so that the hook sets are free to dangle below the body and the reeling force exerted by the line is borne by the split ring.
Should the hook sets become snagged, a tug on the line dislodges the line from the split ring. The lure body, which is buoyant, is free to float upwardly to the surface as the line slides through the channel in the body, and may be recovered for subsequent use with different hook sets.
A disadvantage with such a lure is that, when using multiple hook sets, only one hook set may be positioned adjacent to the lure body, while additional hook sets dangle below and away from the body. Accordingly, only one hook set is sufficiently adjacent to the body to be swallowed by a fish attempting to swallow the lure body.
Another returnable lure is disclosed in the Dickinson U.S. Pat. No. 3,205,608. That lure comprises a body made of a flexible material having a symmetrical, arcuate shape. The extreme forward and rearward portions of the body include holes through which a fishing line is threaded. In one embodiment, the line is threaded through the body, spanning the arcuate portion, and is attached to a rear hook set which tarils the tail of the body. A forward hook set is slideably attached to the line in the span between arcuate portions and is spaced from the rear portion by a plurality of beads threaded on the line behind the hook set. A disadvantage with such a design is that the orientation of the holes is such that the line attached to the lure and hooks must make sharp bends, which tend to weaken the strength of the line at those points, and the "action" of the lure upon reeling is affected.
Accordingly, there is a need for a fishing lure having a retrievable body in which more than one hook set may be positioned sufficiently close to the body to be swallowed by a fish attempting to swallow the lure body. Furthermore, there is a need for a lure having a retrievable body in which the action of the lure upon retrieval is optimized, and in which, sharp bends in the line as it passes through the lure are eliminated.